San Diego photo journal and review and Hiro pic

Hi everyone,

A huge thank you to all those that trampled our booth and bought all our stuff. And of course thank you to all those that came by just to say hi as well!

San Diego Comicon was a huge success and we really appreciate all the love and support.

Each year the San Diego Comicon has been a life changing experience and this time was no different.

Here's a little photo scrap book of our trip.
time for our favorite: nachos at Chillis! yumm..


This was taken on Tuesday. The day before preview night we hung out at Mission Beach


There were some really great characters there! Where's my sketchbook when I need it?


Our talented intern Lisa playing in the sand. Way to go Lisa! Good job at digging those holes! hehehe...


Oh... that's what she was doing! Kei and Lisa made some cute Totoros in the sand!


Rollercoasters by the beach. The fun never stops.


Preview night on Wednesday didn't start until 5pm so we spent the day by the pool at the Hotel.



And so the mad rush of Comicon begins...

They like our stuff thank God!


Kei's vinyl toy (made by our friends at MindStyle! Coming soon... these were only for display.



Life size Ironman


Snow White


More funky vinyls


Intern Lisa and her boyfriend :)jk


After the convention closes, the fans mob the streets...



Party and live paintings at Munky King


Other highlights of the trip included hanging out with the very talented Dice Tsutsumi, Peter Nguyen, and the rest of the Flight/Bluesky gang, Donnachada Daly, Gabriele Pennacchioli, Michael Knapp, Doug Sneyd, Heidi, Cheeks, Bill Presing, Ikumi and our family: Stephen Silver, Alberto Ruiz and Jason Seiler.

We also were happy to see again Alena Wooten, Born, Alina Chau, Stan Sakai, Everett Downing, Aaron Hartline, Kevin Dart, Pascal Campion, Ronnie del Carmen, Arthur Suydam, Martin Hsu, Vin, Humberto Ramos, Francisco Herrera, Gary Ham, Louie del Carmen, Octavio and many more.

We also met for the first time in person William Wray, Justin Sweet, Scott Campbell, Nathan Fowkes, Ryan Wood, Todd Harris, the artists from Portland Studios, and many more... If I missed you I apologize...

It was also great to see so many of my students there! Andrea, Tapan, Mark S, Vivian, Dave, Francis, Brittney...

One big highlight that made me completely geek out was meeting Masi Oka.
This is a piece I did for Jason Seiler's Caricature book [link]


It's Hiro Nakamura from one of my favorite tv shows: Heroes! I happen to eat at the same place Masi Oka (Hiro) a couple of days ago and I showed him the painting and he was kind enough to sign it for me. Yay! Thank you to Heidi Silver for forcing me to introduce myself.

Can't wait for the new season.

Bobby

Digital Painting Techniques class at Sheridan College

After many requests for live classes, we've decided to bring back the Digital Painting classes back to Sheridan College.

Course Description: Prepare for a career in digital art by learning from an industry professional. Designed by Bobby Chiu, the founder of Imaginism Studios, and taught by Thierry Lafontaine, the studio's senior artist, cover philosophies and techniques for producing digital paintings, conceptual art, and character designs by applying traditional art skills in the virtual environment of Adobe Photoshop.

Cost: $323.02
Term : Fall 2008
Location : Trafalgar Campus (Oakville)
Sessions : 09
Days : Tue : 07:00 PM to 10:00 PM
StartDate : Sep 16, 2008

Sign up HERE

Please post your questions in the comments.

Summer heat

We're having the most wonderful weather! I love it! And how lucky am I - I'm working like a maniac yet I get to be in the sunshine everyday. Fantastic.

I don't understand how people can work in an office Monday to Friday, 8-5 all year round. Go for lunch and do their shopping on that petty lunch hour. It nearly killed me - yet I only did it for a year! Never ever will I do that kind of work again. Never.

These days, I go to work either early morning or in the afternoon. If the weather is nice we pack a pickninck or light the BBQ on the veranda when it's time for lunch and then do pretty much the same in the evening. The days I have too much paper work to deal with to come along to the residents fun I grab a wireless phone, the piles of paperwork and sit in the garden whilst the staff and residents go off on their daily adventures.

How lucky I am!

A Post-Comic-Con 'Con

Comic-Con was insane, as usual. The drive from Los Angeles to San Diego took almost 7 hours (yes, seven) instead of 3, and as a result, at one point, I whizzed in a bottle (yes, a bottle). For the record, it was an empty Vitamin Water lemonade bottle, which was nice because it gave me, you know, a sense of symmetry. The rest of the convention proceeded with no unorthodox waste removal procedures. I'm catatonic right now, so you'll have to wait until my next post for non-whizz-related highlights from the convention.

For now, to commemorate the recently ended Comic-Con, a 'Con:

click above for larger view

This is Shockwave, drawn with a modified transformation that I came up with. The original toy had a gun barrel which was essential for the gun mode, but served no purpose and had no venue of storage in robot mode--my revised transformation imagines that the gun barrel could split apart and slide back on Shockwave's arms. That's all. Sleepy-time now.

life on a farm = heaven!

Con!

As in, Comic-Con! But also as in, Khan Noonien Singh!

KHAAAAAAN!

By the powers of black magic and unholy witchcraft (AKA the miracles of modern technology), this entry in my blog is being auto-posted while I am away. As you read this, I am at Comic-Con, wasting my money on action figures of obscure nerdy characters, wasting my time at super-nerdy panels, and most importantly wasting my dignity ogling super-hott booth babes. I will be back next week, and I'm sure I will have a thing or two to say about Comic-Con.

If you are at or heading to Comic-Con, please check out my previous post to see some shameless plugs of my friends and cronies peddling their wares at Comic-Con.

• Fun Fact: The original title for this post was "From Hell's heart, I blog at thee!"

Shameless Plugs! Comic-Con Edition!

This is a little last minute, but for those of you who are heading to Comic-Con, please allow me to suggest the following points of interest:

• Josh and Vinny will be at the Big Boss table in the small press area, promoting their upcoming hardcover, Dear Dracula, as well as Necessary Evil and its recently released trade paperback. Table N9


• The ever-crafty Karen, Jodi, and Sherri will be at the Tired Girl Collective table in small press, selling pins, pendants, prints, poetry, and probably more. Go here for hamster, pony, cupcake, or bird related paraphenelia. Table L5


• Last, but not least, rockstar, and artist of Detective Comics, Dustin Nguyen, will be rockin a table in Artist's Alley. He's got sketchbooks, some amazing (and super-reasonably priced) prints, and if you're lucky you might be able to buy a sketch! Table EE-13

That is all.

sweet revenge?

One of my cats - Kif the Tiff - is proving to get very dirty very quickly. Yesterday I gave him a bath. A proper scrub down with a brillo pad. (NO, of course I didn't use a brillo pad - I'm not cruel, but he could well have needed one!)

He wasn't happy at all. Oh boy did he cry. He climbed up on my shoulder and begged for mercy. No mercy was given. After I gave him a little something to cheer him up. He wasn't impressed at all and went do dry off under my duvet.

I gave Tylor the Sailor a bath too. He enjoyed it, bless him.

Then it was my turn. I filled the bath with bubbles and jumped in. Then I heard a noise: a pinging noise computers do when you press the wrong button. Then the pinging noise increased. Then it sounded like a bloody war on my little laptop and so I jumped out of the bath screaming "get off my computer you bugger" to Kif the Tiff who happily stayed on the keyboard despite my screaming.

The screen looked worringly wrong. I noticed it was the "reboot" page!!!Panic struck. When was the last time I did a back up on my files?!

After quite some serious button pushing, swearing and sweating I managed to fix the damn thing. Only to find out Kif had also managed to uninstall my wireless internet connection.

I bet he was well pleased with himself. A good revenge for that bath, I'll give him that!

Kirk!

As in, Captain James Tiberius Kirk:

He's wearing a Starfleet Excursion Jacket, and lemme tell ya, it was a pain finding decent reference for it on the internet. Hmmm... if this is today's illustration, what could the next post be? Hmm...

another one of those chain letters

Five things on my to-do-list today?

Bake blueberry muffins

Make a Spinach and cheese quiche

Do my laundry

Paint my toenails

Water my plants

What did I do 10 years ago?

Hmmm… Anyone who knows me knows I have no idea what year I did what or even what country I was living in. I can’t even remember what year I graduated!!! But I’ll give it a go…

1998… I lived in Jersey and think I had moved in to The Windmill Cottage with Nick. Or perhaps we were still living with his parents (jeez, that was a traumatic exterience and tought me a valuable lesson about mother-in-laws!)

I worked at Les Amis inc. and it might have been the year we spent the winter in Madeira. Or it was the year we trekked around Ireland…

Places I have lived in?

I have moved 27 times so far. Another move is on the way… So I won’t bother listing them here. Countries are Sweden, Jersey, Australia and briefly Madeira and Finland. Some of the most memorable are:

Hawthorn, Jersey (fire jugglers in the backyard and loads of people all over the house most days and nights. I loved it!)

Hawkesbury, Australia (who was that weird guy who insisted on sleeping outside my bedroom door? Brendan something…?) I loved the evening ciggies and a beer on the patio with Fret.

Jardim do Mar, Madeira. Bed bugs, spiders and god knows all the creepy crawlies, but Maria Dora and the other old people who looked after me and gave me avocadoes and oranges – wonderful!

Five things I would do if I was a billionaire?

Pay off my student loans

Get a Swedish drivers license and tell the Swedish MOT office to stick their stupid rules up their arses

Buy a Mini Mayfair (the old proper one, with a union Jack on the roof)

Buy a flat in Sweden and a cottage in Jersey

the cheeky rat

I just need to show this short video of the worlds coolest, cheekiest rat ever!

As mentioned before, I've been spending the weekend on my sister's farm, and one evening when I went to feed the chickens I saw something in the corner of my eye. The day after the battle of wills began between the rat and myself - I armed with my camera waiting quietly for 30 minutes for the little bugger to come out of his hole whilst he patiently waited for me to leave.

In the end I won (as usual, ha ha!). Keep your eyes on the bottom right hand corner, folks!

We'll be at SD Comicon July 23-27, 2008

Hi everyone!

Jason Seiler, Kei Acedera and I (Bobby Chiu) will be at the San Diego Comic Convention - TABLE G6 & G7. We're going to do sign and do free drawings on all the prints and books for every purchase!... or until our arms get sore and we need a break.

Stephen Silver will be at table H6.

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A while back Kei and I were asked to guest artists to the Street Fighter Tribute Book.
We'll be doing the book signing with my partner in crime, Kei Acedera on this Friday from 12:30-1:30pm at the Capcom booth at Comicon. We'll also have a very limited supply of these illustrations as prints. 6 each.

Each print will be signed with original drawing on the back. First come, first serve. Prints are $50 each. I'll try to save one of each for an online auction after the con perhaps.

Here's mine. The idea was to bring Street Fighter back to the "streets."


Here's Kei's piece! I really love this one. So funny...

not moving then...

The guy who looked at my flat for a possible swap was due to phone me last Wednesday to inform me about his decision. As I didn't hear from him on Wednesday I knew he didn't want to go through with the swop, but still I'm a bit pissed off with the text message I recieved yesterday:

Hi Dana, sorry I didn't phone you Wednesday. I was at the tattooist for 5 hours and then felt too tired to phone you. Your flat was great. The landlord not. And lack of parking not good. Therefor I will not do the swap. Thank you and good luck.

Now I can't understand his view on my landlord. Perhaps he should've met him and spoken to him to see what he is like before passing judgement?

And regards to parking???? There's plenty of it. But he never asked! Just made up some very lame excuses. Weak, if you ask me.

mixed feelings

I am looking after my sister's farm this weekend. It is one of the most wonderful places I know, this farm.

The chickens are running around free during the day, and at dinner time they take themselves back to their little hut where you then lock them in over night.

The horses have a huge pen linked to the stable, so they go in and out as they please. The farm itself is beautiful. It's so peaceful here.

I arrived last night. Fia's mum (yes, we're not biological sisters!) was here and we had a cup of tea and she showed me what I needed to do during my stay here. Then she left to go home and I unpacked my bag, got my book out and went to bed.

But somthing was wrong. I had a funny feeling in my stomach and just couldn't go to sleep. The cats were missing. I missed them. I missed having a cat on my chest and another one behind my knees. I was sure they missed me too. Oh, the guilt!!!

This morning I got up early to feed the chicken and let them out. Then I fed the horses before heading indoors to have a nap (as you know Im not a morning person at all). I woke up all sweaty - had the most horrible dream about the cats being injured. I felt like a traitor leaving them behind!

Then my brother phoned. Told me he and his girlfriend were at mine cuddling and playing with the cats having a most wonderful time together. Two hours later he phoned to say that Kif were asleep in his girlfriends lap and Tylor (who I'm renamning to Sailor, but that's a different story all together) were sitting on my brother's shoulder giving him lots of hugs and kisses.

I KNOW they are fine. But I'm not. As much as I love bing here on the farm.

Serious Stuff. Seriously.

I enjoyed Batman Begins, but I had a few gripes with it and just didn't love it the way everyone else did. It took itself a little too seriously, no?

Given my complaint about seriousness, it was pretty funny to me when I found out that the Joker's tagline for The Dark Knight was "why so serious?" At any rate, I'm looking forward to The Dark Knight.

making out

Kif likes a good old snog with lots of tounge

Wheras Tylor prefers lots and lots of nose buffing

why i have little faith in the police

Yesterday I phoned the police to report a “hit and run”. I got to the main switchboard, explained my errand whereas I was put on hold for a while. Then a different lady came on the phone, asked me about my errand and I explained.

“Oh”, she said, “you’ve got the wrong department. Please hold the line”.

I waited for a good 10 minutes. Then a bored-sounding man answered the phone. I started explaining my errand, whereas he said “wait, hold on, what did you say your name was?”

I told him.

“Ok, and your phonenumber?” he asked.

I told him.

“Ok, I’ll phone you back in about 15 minutes” he said.

I asked if he didn’t know what I wanted to report? He said no and hung up.

Needless to say, the unresponsive copper didn’t phone back yesterday, and hence I started all over again today:

After being put on hold, redirected to a different department 4 times today I ended up speaking to a pleasant man who actually let me tell my story. “But” he said “ then you need to phone 114 14”.

I screamed in fear of him putting me on hold whilst trying to connect me to this number – it was the first number I dialled and I just couldn’t face starting all over one more time!

The policeman laughed. “ Don’t worry” he said reassuringly as I explained the reason for my panic attack “tell me from start to finish and I’ll see how I can help you”.

I did. He wrote a report. Then I asked for his name and direct number in case I ever wanted to report anything ever again. I guess he must be the only copper in Sweden with a sence of what customer service really is about!

Guest artists contributions for Dean Yeagle's new book

Hi everyone,

Lots of things going on but first here's a couple recent pieces that I'd like to share.
We were invited to be guest artists in Dean Yeagle's new book (available at comicon).
We were asked to do our version of Dean's famous Mandy character. I can't wait to see the whole book! There's tons of amazing artists that contributed (Bill Presing, Shane Glines, J Scott Campbell, Mike Kunkel, David Colman, Justin Ridge, Doug Sneyd.. and many more!)

To purchase visit Brand Studio Press --> HERE

Bobby's


Kei's

GTA Chinatown Wars

During the hardware maker's E3 Media and Business Summit press conference in July 2008, Nintendo's Cammie Dunaway carjacked the audience's attention announcing that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will arrive on the Nintendo DS this December. Little is known about the game, save for that it will feature a new game engine, characters, and the series' standard sandbox-style gameplay. It’s time to ditch those crazy mind games and prepare your Nintendo DS for the entirely new experience.

Rockstar Games is proud to announce Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS™. "This is a game that will deliver a rich, fast-paced and intense 'Grand Theft Auto' experience that will be truly unique to Nintendo's handheld platform," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "Rockstar Leeds, along with the team at Rockstar North, has built upon a decade of progressive design on Grand Theft Auto, and has created something fundamentally fresh and immersive."

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an entirely original entry into the critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto series, and brings a new level of interactivity to its sprawling open environments. With the use of the DS touch screen, players will navigate their way through the streets as they uncover the truth behind an epic tale of crime and corruption within the Triad crime syndicate, delivering the unprecedented amount of depth that has become a true trademark of the franchise.

Developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with series creators Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be available on the Nintendo DS™ in North America and Europe this winter.

Source: take2games.com

The (Kart) Princess Diaries (Part 3 of 3)

To wrap up this brief series, here's Rosalina, the most recent of the Princesses from the Mario-verse. The little floaty star-dude is her pal Luma.

click above for larger view

I'll be honest with you, I don't really know anything about Rosalina, other than what I got from skimming her wiki. I haven't actually played Super Mario Galaxy, but Rosalina is one of my drivers of choice for Mario Kart.

I don't have anything planned for the immediate future, but I think you can expect to see more Nintendo characters from me. There's a simple yet iconic quality to Nintendo's pantheon that makes them a lot of fun to draw.

The Punisher! . . . W.I.P.

Just something new I'm working on, this is the first stage of the block in. Also, a reminder, Caricature classes with Jason Seiler starts August 1rst, slots are filling up . . . check it out and feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.
-Jason

Last week for free shipping on books.

We've started moving our books to our new distributor Brand Studio so shipping will be much quicker and more efficient. This also means Free Worldwide Shipping ends when Brand Studio takes over on Monday July 21st, 2008.

Lots of people have been asking me lately how I like my new job these days.

(Here's a little recap for those of you that don't know the story: had a job I hated with some evil co-workers and a boss from hell. I got signed off work for a few months with burnt out syndrome and then got head hunted to this job as a manager for an autistic unit. I have now been working there for four months and it's been an exciting, tough, challenging and amazing experience - all in one!)

It is a fab job. I love it. Sometimes it has proven more than tough - there are a couple of members of staff who really don't like my way of running the place, and they have made my life difficult at times. But the job is challenging and I like that responsibility. I also love the clients, which, let's face it, is the main reason the staff and I are there.

Now here's the best part: my boss. I have never before had a boss that gives me sooo much support. Never before have I had a boss I work so well with and who is so similar to me in her way of running things. This is saying alot, considering I've had a couple of fantastic bosses in my life. And considering my old boss made my life miserable I've really come to understand the importance of having that relationship with your boss.

So now I'm trying to be that brilliant boss myself. Which sometimes is impossible. But I'm trying really hard to be fair, to be honest and straight, to be encouraging and supporting. And this is why I love my job - I get to develop as a person.

all work and no play makes us dull

After a night of cocktails with one of my best friends in a nice little bar last night, I came home, cuddled my cats and went to sleep. This morning the cats woke me up at 10.30.

...Considering my dad's cat wakes him up around 5.30 am every morning I count myself lucky for having got two lazy creatures!

We had breakfast, fell asleep in the settee and then the cats finally decided it was time to have a little run around. I realized it was no return - I had to do some work and started the laundry, cleaning and ironing. I don't know why those chores always takes twice as long as I think they'll do? I ironed alone for a good hour! Chocking. Only to do exactly the same thing all over again next week...

I made a long shopping list and in the early evening ventured outside to do my weekly shop. I quite like doing shopping on a Saturday night: tlhe shops are empty, no stress and lots of half priced stuff with short dates, ha ha! Suits a tight arse like myself!

On my way home with all my shopping bags I heard someone call my name across the street from where I was walking. At a bar opposite sat two friends having a beer in the evening sun and they asked me to join them.

Pure bliss! I put my shopping down, pinched a cigarette (or three, actually) and had a beer and a good old chin wag before heading home again.

Now it's bed time and I have had yet another lovely evening. I'm starting to like my "new life". I really do. Finally I understand the old saying "all work and no play makes you sad". More fun to the people!

Totoro Forest Project!

Here's something you'll be hearing a lot about.

This amazing event called the Totoro Forest Project is a fundraising auction that has brought together over 200 distinguished artists from animation, comic books and illustration, to save the Sayama forest (aka Totoro Forest). Hayao Miyazaki used this forest as an inspiration for "Totoro". All proceeds will go to the Totoro no Furusato Forest Foundation, established by Hayao Miyazaki himself. This is the brilliant idea of Dice Tsutsumi, Ronnie del Carmen and Enrico Casarosa.
Check out their wonderful site for some mind blowing pieces !!--> TOTORO FOREST PROJECT

Bobby and I are very honored to be a part of it.

Here is my "inner" Totoro...
Title: Enoki Forest Song
Medium: Gouache on Watercolor Paper.
Size: 11x14 inches
Poem: Raise, raise the lantern high,
Darkened riverbanks roll by,
The small skiff drifts, the band plays on
And the fireflies dance along
To the enoki mushroom forest song.









Here's Bobby's amazingly detailed pen drawing...
Title: Dirty Job
Medium: Pen and Ink.
Size: 11x14 inches
Story: Help wanted: Enthusiastic individual, must love animals and working outdoors, no experience necessary.



And another fantastic painting by Bobby! (yes, he doe not stop :))
Title: Twins
Medium: Pen and Ink with Digital
Size: 13x19 inches
Story: The blue gill-necked centi-plesiosaur is known for its inquisitive nature, sociable disposition, and extremely poor eyesight.